Seymchan (urban-type settlement)

Seymchan ( _ru. Сеймчан) is an urban-type settlement in the Magadan Oblast in the Russian Far East. It is the administrative center of the Srednekansky District.

Local geography

The settlement lies on the Seymchan River near where it joins the Kolyma River, about 350 km north of Magadan, at coordinates: coord|62|56|N|152|22|E|type:city(2000)|display=inline,title.

The settlement had a population of 9,963 in the 1989 Census, but only 3,725 in 2002 Census. It is a regional food processing and timber industry center. It is connected by road with Magadan through a Kolyma Highway spur.

The nearby selo Kolymskoye, located 5 km southeast of Seymchan, functions as an inland port on the Kolyma River. Seymchan Airport is located half-way between the two settlements, with a mile-long (1620 m) paved RWY 18/36. During World War II the airport was used to distribute American Lend-Lease war material to production facilities within the Soviet Union.

2007 Mi-8 helicopter crash

Commercial flights from Seymchan to nearby remote areas using the local forest fire protection service's Mi-8 helicopters are routine. On 15 September 2007 one such flight crashed on the Suruktash mountain while on its way to deliver paying passengers to the vicinity of the Burgali river. 6 people died, and one, the craft's commander, survived with severe burns. The wreck and the survivor were spotted by another Mi-8, and the victim was flown to Seymchan for transport to a hospital. [http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=11875385&PageNum=0 "Missing Mi-8 crashed in Magadan region, six die"] , "ITAR-TASS News Agency", 16 September 2007. Accessed 2007-09-16.]

References

External links

* [http://seymchan.ru/ Official webpage of Seymchan] ru icon
* [http://wikimapia.org/country/Russia/Magadan/Seymchan/ Seymchan location, maps and comments] on WikiMapia